Can Gaming Allow You To "Level Up" In The Workplace?

Next time someone's ripping on you for playing video games, either because they think you're too old or they consider it a waste of time, just tell them it's offsite job training.

Forbes published an article this week on how playing video games in moderation can help improve your overall job skills. According to John Hagel III, co-chairman of a tech-oriented strategy centre for Deloitte, it's the gamers who put their best foot forward when they come to work everyday. "We're finding that the younger people coming into the teams who have had experience playing online games are the highest-level performers because they are constantly motivated to seek out the next challenge and grab on to performance metrics."

Motivation (for something other than high scores and achievements) is just one of the important job skills video games can help foster. In more in-depth games, such as role-playing games, gamers can observe effective persuasion and compromising techniques or can put them into practice through games that have multiplayer capabilities. Players also learn how to react to change, make decisions and perhaps improvise when new scenarios and challenges arise. Sometimes, there can be a lot of trial and error involved in a game (real-time strategies, for example), but in the midst of it all, players can learn what works and what doesn't, and gain some insight from their mistakes. Unless you play video games for a living, gaming and work are totally different activities. But surprisingly, there's a lot of crossover in terms of the everyday real-life skills you use when playing the game.

So, who's brave enough to add their gaming accomplishments to their resume?

WATCH MORE: Gaming News

Comments

James Mills Guest

Jul 24, 2010, 5:54pm

I'm starting studies to get into the stockbroking/trading industry. Interestingly I've read an article saying that gamers might get similar satisfaction and challenge from trading in financial markets. They're fast paced, lots of data to process and decisions need to be made in the heat of the moment.

Winning and losing is very real, so I do plan to use my gaming background in the future to assist in job applications.